European Short Course Championships: Stanislav Donets Continues Sterling Meet

EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands, November 27. RUSSIA's Stanislav Donets posted another impressive backstroke time during the third day of action at the European Short Course Championships held in Eindhoven tonight.

Men's 1500 free finals
Italy's Federico Colbertaldo posted the top time in the world this year with a strong 14:35.36. That effort far surpassed the 14:37.94 set by Sebastien Rouault at the Stockholm stop of the World Cup. Ukraine's Sergiy Frolov finished second in 14:42.01 to rank seventh in the world. The Netherlands' Job Kienhuis wound up third in 14:42.39, but has been much faster with a third-ranked 14:40.11 from the Berlin stop of the World Cup.

Italy's Samuel Pizzetti (14:45.32), Germany's Jan Wolfgarten (14:55.24), Denmark's Anders Lie (14:58.48), Belarus' UIadzimir Zhyharau (14:59.77) and Ukraine's Maxym Shemberyev (15:09.70) rounded out the top eight.

Women's 50 back semis/finals
Czech's Simona Baumrtova led the way in the sprint back semis with a 27.25, while Italy's Elena Gemo took second in 27.35.

Croatia's Sanja Jovanovic (27.48), Ukraine's Daryna Zevina (27.67), Austria's Fabienne Nadarajah (27.69), Italy's Laura Letrari (27.75), Great Britain's Rachel Lefley (27.80) and Russia's Alexandra Papusha (27.84) also made the championship finale.

Jovanovic turned on the afterburners to edge Gemo, 27.10 to 27.13, in the finale, while Baumrtova faded to third in 27.30.

Letrari (27.44), Papusha (27.75), Zevina (27.85), Nadarajah (27.86) and Lefley (28.08) also competed for the title.

Men's 50 breast semis/finals
Slovenia's Emil Tahirovic posted a 26.64 for the top seed, and moved to fourth in the world rankings. Italy's Fabio Scozzoli touched second in 26.80, while The Netherlands' Robin van Aggele earned third in 26.83.

Germany's Hendrik Feldwehr (26.95), Norway's Aleksander Hetland (26.98), Slovenia's Matjaz Markic (27.05), Russia's Sergey Geybel (27.10) and Italy's Nicolo Ossola (27.11) grabbed the rest of the transfer spots into finals.

Van Aggele surged to victory in the finale with a 26.44 to move to fourth in the rankings. Hetland took second in 26.56, while Scozzoli and Feldwehr rounded out the podium with matching 26.68s.

Tahirovic (26.85), Geybel (26.98), Markic (27.04) and Ossola (27.05) placed fifth through eighth.

Women's 400 free finals
Hungary's Agnes Mutina topped the middle distance event with a winning 4:01.25. That performance moved her to sixth in the world rankings this year. Spain's Melanie Costa Schmid finished second in 4:02.26 for seventh in the rankings. Ireland's Grainne Murphy picked up third in 4:02.86.

Hungary's Boglarka Kapas (4:03.42), Ireland's Melanie Nocher (4:03.97), The Netherlands' Sharon van Rouwendaal (4:05.30), Austria's Joerdis Steinegger (4:07.46) and Norway's Cecilie Johannessen (4:13.09) finished fourth through eighth.

Men's 100 IM semis
Germany's Markus Deibler paced semis with a time of 52.36. He's been faster this year with the top-ranked time of 52.17 from the Berlin stop of the World Cup. Slovenia's Peter Mankoc qualified second in 53.43, while Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis took third in 53.63.

Spain's Alan Cabello Forns (53.73), Italy's Christian Galenda (53.80), Croatia's Duje Draganja (53.90), Russia's Dmitry Zhilin (54.09) and Czech's Tomas Fucik (54.15) qualified fourth through eighth.

Women's 100 breast semis
The Netherlands' Tessa Brouwer (1:06.45) and Moniek Nijhuis (1:06.52) claimed the top two seeds in the finale. France's Sophie De Ronchi took third in 1:06.94, while Germany's Caroline Ruhnau placed fourth in 1:07.22.

Russia's Valentina Artemyeva (1:07.48), Russia's Ekaterina Baklakova (1:07.90), Italy's Chiara Boggiatto (1:07.98) and Czech's Petra Chocova (1:08.12) also made finals.

Men's 100 back semis
Russia's Stanislav Donets threw down a sterling time of 49.38 for the top seed. That swim crushed his previously top-ranked effort of 49.98 set during prelims – the only sub-50 times this year. Donets' 49.38 is the 12th all time, with both times ahead of Ryan Lochte's textile best of 49.99 set at the World Short Course Championships in 2006. He will be gunning for the first textile sub-49 during finals. Donets' European record is a 48.97 from last year, while Nick Thoman owns the world record with a 48.94.

Italy's Damiano Lestingi qualified a distant second in 51.21, while Russia's Artem Dubovskoy placed third in 52.06.

Italy's Mirco Di Tora (52.18), The Netherlands' Nick Driebergen (52.26), Germany's Stefan Herbst (52.38), Israel's Jonatan Kopelev (52.65) and The Netherlands' Bastiaan Lijesen (52.69) made their way into the finale.

Women's 100 IM finals
Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto overtook The Netherlands' Hinkelien Schreuder, 59.53 to 59.57, in the sprint medley. Verraszto improved upon her fourth-ranked time of 59.88, but fell short of Natalie Coughlin's third-ranked 59.46. Schreuder finished short of her top-ranked time of 59.29 that matched Emily Seebohm's time at the Aussie Nationals in July. Germany's Theresa Michalak also cleared 1:00 with a third-place 59.85 to move to fifth in the world.

Italy's Francesca Segat (1:00.57), France's Sophie De Ronchi (1:00.71), Israel's Amit Ivri (1:00.88), Russia's Olga Klyuchnikova (1:00.93) and Belarus' Sviatlana Khakhlova (1:00.94) completed the championship field.

Men's 200 fly finals
In another exciting finish, Austria's Dinko Jukic touched out Germany's Tim Wallburger, 1:53.35 to 1:53.71, in the distance fly as both moved to the top 10. Hungary's Bence Biczo finished third in 1:53.75 to also grab a top 10 ranking.

Portugal's Duarte Rafael Mourao (1:54.85), Slovenia's Robert Zbogar (1:54.91), Czech's Jan Sefl (1:55.05), Hungary's David Verraszto (1:55.24) and France's Christophe Lebon (1:56.07) placed fourth through eighth.

Women's 100 fly semis
The Netherlands' Inge Dekker clocked a 57.06 for the top seed in the finale. Norway's Ingvild Snildal (58.57) and Italy's Caterina Giacchetti (58.80) qualified second and third.

Estonia's Triin Aljand (58.84), Hungary's Eszter Dara (58.85), Hungary's Zsuzsanna (58.86), Italy's Alessia Polieri (59.06) and Belgium's Kimberly Buys (59.11) also earned lanes in the finale.

Men's 100 free finals
Russia's Daniil Izotov clipped compatriot Evgeny Lagunov, 46.56 to 46.60, for the win. Izotov has already been faster this meet with a second-ranked 46.49, while Lagunov moved to third in the world. Italy's Luca Dotto earned third place in 47.09 for eighth in the rankings.

Italy's Filippo Magnini (47.11), Czech's Martin Verner (47.85), The Netherlands' Joost Reijns (48.08), Belgium's Jasper Aerents (48.08) and Finland's Ari-Pekka Lukkonen (48.35) placed fourth through eighth.

Women's 200 medley relay finals
The Netherlands' Hinkelien Schreuder, Moniek Nijhuis, Inge Dekker and Ranomi Kromowidjojo raced to victory in the sprint medley with a time of 1:44.98. Kromowidjojo put the race away comfortably with a 22.70 anchor. Germany's Jenny Mensing, Dorothea Brandt, Lisa Vitting and Britta Steffen took second in 1:47.70, while Italy's Laura Letrari, Lisa Fissneider, Elena Gemo and Federica Pellegrini finished third in 1:49.56.

Russia (1:49.76), Belarus (1:50.43), Switzerland (1:51.25), Finland (1:51.29) and Czech Republic (1:51.71) completed the championship heat.

Men's 100 fly S8, S9, S10 finals
The Netherlands' Mike van der Zanden won the S10 division in 58.14, while Italy's Federico Morlacchi led the S9 in 59.72. France's Charles Rozoy turned in the top S8 swim with a 1:01.30.

Day Three Finals

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